development

Conference Presentations

A Formula for Test Automation Success: Finding the Right Mix of Skill Sets and Tools

Not sure what elements to consider now that you're ready to embark on the mission of automating your testing? This session explores the possibilities-the key mix of skill sets, processes, and tools-that can make or break any automation effort. The instructor shows you how to develop an informed set of priorities that can make all the difference in your effort's success, and help you avoid project failure.

  • Create better, more reusable tests to improve efficiency and effectiveness
  • Increase the value and reputation of QA within your organization
  • Establish a closer relationship with developers based on mutual respect
Gerd Weishaar, IBM Rational software
Application Performance and Reliability Management - 24x7

Managing system performance and reliability has never been as significantx0151or as challengingx0151as it is now. These days, most organizations have multi-technology, multi-vendor, multi-tier environments. In other words, it’s a world rife with 24-hour, alwaysx0151on complexity. Add to this the need for continual changes to react to shifts in business conditions, technology advances, and mixes of demands and you have a recipe that calls for the highest level of performance and reliability possible. But getting there is next to impossible. However, new concepts emerging from research labs are delivering usable products such as flexible computing, autonomous computing, and self-tuning systems. These possibilities have revolutionary potential for performance management.

  • Examine recommended suites of tools and their limitations
  • Look at the major innovations and trends, such as self-tuning systems
Ross Collard, Collard and Company
Smaller-Scale Web Sites Need Performance Testing Too!

Even a smaller-scale Web site requires careful planning and execution of performance tests. Making the critical decisions in a timely manner and identifying the performance goals are still prerequisites to a successful test. However, smaller sites don't necessarily have the resources required to do large-scale testing, so compromises have to be made. This requires good test planning. The instructor explains the testing of a small site looking to grow, as well as the successes and pitfalls of achieving reasonable goals.

  • Define the test objectives; what's reasonable?
  • Plan the test then utilize tools, choices, and tradeoffs effectively
  • Apply and understand the results
Dale Perry, Software Quality Engineering
Web Application Performance Testing with the Open Source Hyades Project

What if you could build and run multi-user performance tests with a free, open source tool? Then, this coming Monday, you could validate multi-user application performance before deploying your application to your users, automate performance tests without spending money, and add additional features and capabilities to the
performance test tool as desired. Join Jeff Robbins to learn about two open source tools, Eclipse and Hyades.

Jeff Robbins, IBM Rational Software Group
Fault Injection to Stress Test Windows Applications

Testing an application's robustness and tolerance for failures in its natural environment can be difficult or impossible. Developers and testers buy tool suites to simulate load, write programs that fill memory, and create large files on disk, all to determine the behavior of their application under test in a hostile and unpredictable environment. Herbert Thompson describes and demonstrates new, cutting edge methods for simulating stress that are more efficient and reliable than current industry practices. Using Windows Media Player and Winamp as examples, he demonstrates how new methods of fault injection can be used to simulate stress on Windows applications.

  • Runtime fault injection as a testing and assessment tool
  • Cutting edge stress-testing techniques
  • An in-depth case study on runtime fault injection
Herbert Thompson, Security Innovation
Introducing Test Driven Development

You may ask, why would anyone write an automated unit test for code that has not yet been written? With Test-Driven Development (TDD), that's exactly what you do-write an automated test that fails; then write the code that makes the test pass; then write another automated test that fails; etc., until the system is completed. This provides an automated regression test suite up front, before the tests can be "skipped" because the project is "running late". Matthew Heusser introduces the concepts and benefits of TDD for the user, the developer, and the organization. Learn how TDD can create confidence that code is complete and works, catch integration defects when they are first created, and, most importantly, provide confidence that a maintenance change did not create regression error. Also, learn what TDD means for testers.

Matthew Heusser, Priority-Health
Becoming a Trusted Advisor to Senior Management

How can Test Managers present information about test results so that the correct message is received by decision-makers? Testing generates a huge amount of raw data, which must be analyzed, processed, summarized, and presented to management so the best decisions can be made quickly. Lloyd Roden shares his experiences as a test manager and as a consultant about communicating with and disseminating information to various levels of senior management. Develop your skills to become a "trusted advisor" to senior management rather than the "bearer of bad news". Find out innovative ways to keep the information flowing to and from management and avoid losing control of the test process, particularly near the delivery date. Learn the seven monitoring techniques Lloyd recommends for reporting on different aspects of the system under test.

Lloyd Roden, Grove Consultants
The Best Testers are Free

Beta programs and early release programs are commonly used in software release cycles. The next level of partnership is bringing actual customers into the test lab. When customers test, even for short periods of time, their contribution can change your test practices and test environments forever. The best part is, they’ll do it for free! Learn how to recruit customers for testing and then use them to improve test practices within your test team.

Adam Tate, IBM Corporation
.Net-A Complete Development Cycle

This article discusses the software development practices that were used before the inception of .NET detailing which ones worked and which ones didn't. The .NET development lifecycle and how to implement it for your team is also explained.

Gunther Lenz, Siemens Corporate Research
Leading Successful Software Projects

Presentation Leading Successful Software Projects

Andy Kaufman, Institute for Leadership Excellence and Development

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